The Old Tune INN ... one of my favorite places to go in Washington. My school often sends groups of students up to Washington for study and recreation. Many find their way to the Tune Inn - it's right across the street from the Library of Congress. So I was amused to find this mention of it on the Internet.

Capitol Hill dive bar the Tune Inn is named one of Esquire's "Best Bars in America" in the mag's June issue. The bar's mounted deer heads (and rears) coupled with cheap pitchers of beer seem to have won editors over.

It fails to mention the greasy old fashioned hamburgers and fries, and the total lack of anything smacking of Capitol Hill yupdom. And that it is really really cheap by DC standards.

The Southern Baptist Convention has been meeting in Greensboro....

In fact, about the time MFH and I were watching 'Prairie Home Companion' the Baptists were busy electing a new president, the Rev. Frank Page. This may portend all kinds of significant changes in the religion, society and politics of our country, at least as far as some commentators tell it. This is mainly because he defeated candidates supported by the very conservative Southern Baptist establishment. My favorite quote so far from Rev Page is "I believe in the word of God, I'm just not mad about it."

On the other hand, Page also makes it clear that he is not repudiating the conservative agenda of the past decade or so. He might de-politicize it a bit, which would be a good start. We will just have to wait and see.

Why this supposed shift? E J Dionne in the Washington Post speculates that Blogland may have had something to do with it. His comment is worth quoting:

Over the past several years, an active network of Baptist bloggers has opened up discussion in the convention and given reformers and moderates avenues around what Parham called "the Baptist establishment papers" and other means of communication controlled by the convention's leadership. Thus may some of our oldest and most traditional institutions be transformed by new technologies.

Dionne then comments,

Religious movements stay vibrant thanks to the complicated interaction of fidelity, reflection and reform. The evangelical world is going through a quiet evolution as believers reflect on the perils of partisanship and ideology and their reasons for being Christian. This will probably affect the nation's political life, but it will certainly affect the country's spiritual direction. My hunch is that not only moderates and liberals but also many solid conservatives welcome the departure.

Not sure about that, but since most of my neighbors here in the land of Wilkes are good, solid, Southern Baptists, I sure welcome it!

Una fiesta para Luci!

MHF and I were lucky enough to be invited to a party for the three year old daughter of Mexican friends from church - a genuine Mexican fiesta complete with two piñatas and some of the best carnitas I have ever had cooking outside in a huge bubbling vat. Little Luci had just turned three and it was her party. Apparently in Mexico it is the custom to make a big deal over the third birthday. There were nearly 70 people there, most of them kids. They had great fun whacking away at the piñatas - even I got some candy when they burst open.

I tried out my rusty Spanish with the adults, but all of the kids could speak English, except for those too young to speak anything. I sat next to a young lady of 16 who may go to the university in accounting. She says she is good at math, which is unusual these days. I hope she does decide to go on to school when she finishes high school. Right now she is studying cosmetology.

The family giving the party werextraordinarilyly generous hosts. It was a good time in old Wilkes.

Rabid Raccoon!

When I got home today from work the phone rang almost immediately. It was my next door neighbor warning me that a rabid raccoon had been in their back yard but had dashed away before animal control could get out here. A few minutes later our across the street neighbor called to tell me the same thing. A few minutes later a friend from Minnesota whom I hadn't heard from for months called - I asked him if he'd called to tell me about a rabid raccoon. He seemed a bit nonplussed.

Well, no neighborhood walks for me and the Little Lummox for a few days.

MFH has always been amused by the stories in the local paper about such animals because they always end along the lines of '80 year old Thelma Bunch was attacked by a rabid raccoon. She went back to her car to retrieve her gun and shot the animal.' Now MFH wants to know why our neighbor didn't do the same thing.

She doesn't fully believe me when I say that not everybody in Wilkes packs a gun. At least not all the time.

I knew it was a mistake to shower at the 'Y!

Not that there is anything wrong with the 'Y' - it's a wonderful facility. I went for my spinning class, trying to get in shape. The instructors are usually very young, very fit, and ferociously determined to prove that even after several children, they can keep the same waste line they had when they were 16. Usually it just about kills me and convinces me that perhaps I should stick to walking for exercise but today Cherie was the instructor. She's a little more laid back, and a lot more talkative, than any of the others. So the time passes quickly.

Then the trouble started - in the shower room. Where they have huge mirrors almost the entire wall, floor to ceiling. You get to see all of yourself in the all together. Under florescent lighting that makes you look your absolute best! And just in case you miss the point, there are scales right there to weigh yourself on. I did. I am now rapidly revising my exercise program: walk the Little Lummux every evening, go biking or spinning at least 3 times a week, and walk 10,000 paces every day, even if it means I am pacing around the house reading a book before you go to bed.

And it all started with an innocent trip to the 'Y'.

While reading my library book of poety by Fernado Pessoa I came across these two quotes in the introduction. I'll put them down here, as if this blog were my little notebook.

Psychoanlysis is too poor a science to explain the case of Pessoa, who seems to have been, simply, mysteriously, possessed by a demon -- that of detachment.

And:

Though Pessoa wrote excellent English for a foreigner, it lacked the organic fiber and carnal weight of what is so aptly known as a mother tongue.

I love that last phrase. How many of us can actually use our mother tongue with 'organic fiber and carnal weight?'

What I do at work all day....

.... does not always bear close examination. Today I came in, did some work, signed some forms, talked to a client, then read a blog,which led me to this blog, which is funny as hell. No one holds a candle to American creativity and know-how!

Enjoy it, but please don't tell the boss.



http://eepybird.com/dcm1.html [if the link doesn't work]

Maeréad came down the mountain to visit us.

Now she is four, as she will tell anyone who even looks at her, and a lot of fun to be around. One of the reasons I like to go get her for the afternoon is that rather than transfer the car seat it is easier to leave my standard issue Subaru with 167 hp and middle-American suspension and take her Dad's WRX, with 226 hp and the European sports suspension. It's a burden, but I am willing to make the sacrifice for my little friend.

Once she got here Auntie MFH, Maeréad, and myself all went over to the old Liberty Theatre and watched 'Over the Hedge.' There is nowhere else I know of to watch good first run movies for so cheap. We all enjoyed the movie: it's not 'Shrek' but it still was a lot of fun.

Halfway through the movie Maeréad leaned over and whispered, 'Uncle Oscar, why aren't you wearing your clear glasses in a movie?' I had forgotten to take off my prescription dark glasses! I had thought the movie house was a little dark.

We came home and while MFH fixed dinner Maeréad and I tried to watch the Garfield the Cat DVD she had brought with her. But it didn't work at all - we kept getting an 'Invalid Region' message on the screen. Later we learned that since Maeréad is Irish, her Garfield DVD was Irish, and our DVD player is strictly American.

There was very nearly an Irish meltdown, complete with tears and screaming, but fortunately the Little Lummox started chasing her around the room which distracted her long enough for me to cue up the 'Star Wars' music DVD. Once it started and she saw Princess Padme and the boys, she would stop and watch it for a few minutes, and then continue her chase with Lummox for a bit more.

Her parents came down for dinner and so that they could pick her up, although both kept saying that they would be happy to let us keep her for the night ... or the week. But I think her dad really wanted his WRX back.

After dinner Maeréad and I watched 'The Iron Giant' while the adults all talked out in the kitchen. It is a wonderful little animated film, btw, if you haven't seen it. As soon as she left with her parents the Little Lummox, and Oscar, collapsed.

Just another beautiful Saturday here in the land of Wilkes.

The old Tory Oaks Restaurant is back!

Let's hope that's a good thing. A few days ago I dropped into Dooley's Tavern to, uh, read a serious work of scholarship. Started talking to Seth, the owner, who once took a class of mine. He told me that he has reopened the Tory Oak after the last owner came and went almost overnight (he must have had a crackerjack business plan). It's now open Thur, Fri, and Sat from 5pm on. Or it is usually - Seth will be out of town for the next two weekends. Always on the lookout for a decent place to eat in the Twin Hamlets, MFH and will give it a try and report back.